Predator

An okay thriller (spoilers)

Sasha (Charlize Theron) is an adrenaline junkie whose husband Tommy (Eric Bana) passes away during a freak accident on one of their adventures. Five months later, she travels to her husband’s native Australia for another excursion, venturing alone in this remote park where several visitors have gone missing. What could possibly go wrong?

Along the way, Sasha runs into Ben (Taron Egerton), a local jerky maker. He seems like a nice guy, unlike the sleazy group of hunters Sasha also crosses paths with. However, even if you haven’t seen the trailer, it’s easy to guess that the hunters are a red herring and Ben’s the villain because he’s played by the most famous actor in the cast after Theron. Well, there’s Bana, but he dies to set the plot in motion.

The weakest part of Apex is the first 20 minutes, when you’re just waiting for Ben to show his true colors. You feel the movie trying to build suspense, and it just doesn’t happen—a problem they could have solved, or at least alleviated, by casting an unknown actor as Ben. Of course, if they did that, we wouldn’t have gotten Egerton as Ben.

Unlike the good guys he usually portrays, Egerton mixes things up by playing this combination of General Zaroff, Mick Taylor (John Jarratt), the Joker (various), Leatherface (various), and there’s a little bit of Colonel Kurtz (Marlon Brando) in there as well. And he does a great job of being this animalistic serial killer, much like James McAvoy in Speak No Evil (2024).

What’s Good and Bad

Theron does what she’s supposed to and makes the most of what she’s been given. And what she’s been given might be an even less distinctive character. A survivalist final girl trying to overcome the trauma of her husband’s death is nearly identical to the main character in Fall (which Apex has a few stylistic similarities with). The difference is that Sasha is framed as being more culpable in Tommy’s death because he wanted to stop being a daredevil, while she didn’t.

Towards the end of the movie, Sasha and Ben end up stranded at the tail end of nowhere. Her hands are bound, and his leg is busted. The only way for them to survive is to tandem climb up a wall, even though neither of them can fully trust the other. It’s the best and most suspenseful scene in the movie. I only wish the rest of Apex had been as innovative with its premise.

Of course, while Apex might not be the most original of movies, it is competently made, which can be enough. The rock climbing and rafting scenes are well done. If you want a new movie, check it out. Though I’d more strongly recommend Dangerous Animals, which is also about a woman trying to escape from an Australian serial killer who considers himself an apex predator, and Carry-On, a minimalist thriller with Egerton that’s much more suspenseful.